John Charles Storey WHITE

WHITE, JOHN CHARLES STOREY (b. Thorpe, Essex, England, 7 Aug 1813; d. Bathurst, NSW, 28 June 1904). First superintendent of Wesleyan Methodist church in Adelaide.

White was a local (lay) preacher at Wesley's Chapel in London. He trained and offered for the ministry with the intention of going to South Africa but was rejected on medical grounds. Nonetheless, he preached successfully in a number of Methodist chapels in London. Migrating to SA with his wife Myrah Oakey and two children, he arrived on the Coromandel on 12 Jan 1837. White took the first Methodist service on the mainland of SA on 22 Jan 1837. On 11 May, a Wesleyan society was organised and White, a clerk with the Bank of SA, was appointed lay leader with responsibility for services and class meetings. This arrangement continued until the arrival of the Rev William Longbottom (q.v.) in Aug 1838.

In 1839 White and his family moved to Bathurst where he worked as a baker and became proprietor of the Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal (now the Bathurst Times). He was a lifelong Methodist, continuing to preach diligently in the evangelical tradition. Forced to leave England because of 'lung trouble', Australia was kind to him. He raised twelve children, and was active in Bathurst community affairs.

A D Hunt, This Side of Heaven. A History of Methodism in South Australia (Adelaide, 1985)

JAMES UDY